


63. A half-shadow

by tveckling



Series: Dare to Write challenge [37]
Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types
Genre: Already dead Mercutio, And causes the play to happen, Angst, Canon Compliant, Except Mercutio is a pissed off ghost, Gen, Pissed off ghost does not think clearly, Romeo and Juliet dies as in the play, Sequel to 13 - epiphany
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 09:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8244488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: A shadow wanders the city, visibly the moment before you turn to look at it.  The shadow does not bode well, even if no one realizes it yet. There can be no happiness where death has already claimed dominion, and the shadow will make sure of this.





	

There is a shadow moving through the city, making every person it passes shiver. It screams, but the only thing that can be heard is the wind. It is terribly windy today, the people say and don't hear how the scream gets louder. The mood is heavy and sorrowful; two youths died the day before and a third was banished by royal decree. There is also talk about the great death spreading again in Italy, and people worries that it would spread to Verona. Is the recent deaths just a small taste of what is to come? 

Mercutio doesn't care about the people's worries, he is far beyond caring about anything but his hatred now, but he still remembers everything he hears. It's a habit from when he was alive, and he remembers everything that passes between Julia Capulet and the friar. A plan to save the two lovers and help them be together. To let them live in happiness. 

How dare they? How dare they try to pretend nothing happened? Do they think they can just forget their sins and the consequences of them? Valentine still sits in his room, hasn't left it since he was escorted there by the servant that found him crying on his brother's bed. Prince Escalus broke down once he was behind the closed doors of his study, and it was like nothing Mercutio has ever seen. Paris got a look in his eyes at the news that he had never had before, and then he increased his efforts of marrying the Capulet girl. 

The rage is blinding, and Mercutio loses himself for some time. When he comes back to the present Julia is gone and the friar is frantically writing a letter. It must the one he talked about, the letter to tell Romeo of the plan. 

He won't let that happen. 

They and their stupid infatuation is the reason he _died_. They're the reason Valentine is inconsolable and why the Prince has turned ten years older during one night. He won't let them get away with it, won't let them be happy, won't let them forget. The thought of it is making him throb with anger. 

A shadow follows the courier carrying the letter when he leaves Lawrence. It whispers in the his ear, telling him which route is best to take, and so leads him to a town where the plague now resides. By the time the friar has reached his horse the idea is stuck in his head, the route decided.

The letter won't arrive to Romeo, that's for sure, Mercutio thinks and watches as the young friar rides away on his horse. His anger is momentarily deflated, but when he returns to the palace—what was home in life tends to stay that way—and hear that Valentine has started crying again the anger returns. He hovers near his brother, wishing he could touch him and comfort him. Long ago, years past, Mercutio had sworn an oath that he would never let Valentine cry as hard again. It hurts that he now is the reason Valentine's tears won't stop. 

The news that flies through the city the next morning brings joy to what was once his heart. He can hear screaming and crying, and even if he knows it's not true he can still feel good about it. Part of him wants to stay with Valentine, wants to try and make his tears stop, but a larger part is pushing him forward and into the Capulet crypt as they carry Julia there. The mourning faces makes him laugh loudly and he dances around the area, waiting for a certain someone. 

Paris isn't who he expects, and his glee disappears at the sight of the somber man. There is no way he had any actual feelings for the girl, but he seems older as well, now that Mercutio can look at him. There is no smile in sight, which makes Mercutio ache because that is wrong, Paris is prideful and full of himself and conceited and is always smiling. It's wrong, the whole situation is wrong, and it ignites the anger again. 

When Romeo sneaks into the crypt Mercutio sneers and circles him, doesn't hear what Romeo and Paris are saying, doesn't notice that they are talking. Not until blades are drawn. He screams, tries to run between them and stop them, but Romeo runs through him and as Paris falls Mercutio screams. This wasn't supposed to happen, no one was supposed to die, _this wasn't supposed to happen_. Romeo lies next to Julia but Mercutio doesn't even look their way before he hears Julia's scream. 

Seeing Romeo's unseeing eyes should be making him happy, but Mercutio stands still and silent as she cries. Even as Julia takes the dagger and stabs it into herself Mercutio only watches. He's empty. It would be a blessing to have the rage back, or the glee, even the guilt. Anything would be better than nothing. 

He keeps watching as the bodies are discovered and the whole story revealed. Then, what he's waited for, something that can make his rage ignite again. It only makes it stronger that it's his own uncle pardoning the families. After all that they've done, all the lives that has been lost, they're going to just walk away without a punishment? Not only that, they will build a monument to the two fools whose secrets killed _him_? Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable.

They might think it's over, but it's not by a long shot. Mercutio howls his disappointment and rage, and in the corner of the gathered's eyes they see a shadow moving to and fro. When the Prince turns, thinking he saw a familiar shape, he sees nothing but shadows.


End file.
